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Neutrophils

Neutrophils are a type of innate immune cell that contains distinctive cytoplasmic granules and a nucleus that is divided into three segments. They are the most abundant immune cell type in the blood. Neutrophils are rapidly recruited to infected tissues and can engulf bacteria directly or produce toxic antimicrobial mediators.

Latest Research and Reviews

Bone marrow-derived cells can rapidly enter the systemic circulation, but how this is achieved is unclear. Grüneboom et al. identify tiny capillaries, termed trans-cortical vessels (TCVs), that connect the bone marrow cavity to the systemic vasculature, and show that the majority of blood in long bones passes through TCVs.

Neutrophils normally fulfil their metabolic demands by glycolysis and have limited mitochondrial activity. Here the authors show that tumours promote neutrophils adapted to oxidative mitochondria metabolism that function in the glucose-restrained tumour microenvironment to promote tumour growth by maintaining local immune suppression.

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are known to promote metastasis in mouse models. Here the authors show plasma redox imbalance caused by albumin oxidation to induce inflammation-independent NETosis and lung metastasis, and albumin oxidation and reduced plasma free thiol to be associated with lung metastasis in a cohort of head and neck cancer patients.

Deposited immune complexes (IC) promote neutrophil recruitment, but the fine tuning of this process is still unclear. Here the authors show that the cis interaction of the IC receptor, FcγRIIA and CD18 integrin, Mac-1, on the neutrophil surface modulates neutrophil adhesion, with FcγRIIA sialylation specifically implicated in this interaction.

News and Comment

Gasdermin D is a pore-forming protein that can cause pyroptosis, a form of inflammatory cell death. New research indicates that the pores generated by gasdermin D can also promote the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps, potentially opening new therapeutic avenues for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.